person or book cover
Script cover page (Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)
form y separately published work icon Unplaced Favourite single work   film/TV   crime  
Issue Details: First known date: 1975... 1975 Unplaced Favourite
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'No crim has to issue the challenge, "Fight!", more than once to Bluey. One such invitation and Bluey is in there - boots and all. A fist fair in the mouth is his usual R.S.V.P. card!

'One felon, Tony Benson, threw down the gauntlet, not once, not twice, but three times ... and he got away with it - with the outcome of the confrontation exactly as he planned it should be. He succeeded because he is a smart operator ... you have to be to survive on the seedier side of the racing game. You must understand people, play upon their weakness, know every angle and work it to death.

'Benson found a weakness where Bluey never believed it could exist. He exploited the kink in Bluey's armour so skilfully Bluey's initiatives were thwarted before he had them launched. He manipulated the police so successfully he had them negating one another's efforts.

'A man who wields such power should find no great difficulty in controlling the skills of Mike Jenkins, a frightened little jockey ... particularly since Mike appreciated Benson's capabilities ... particularly since the little man was so terrified he would share his problem with no-one - least of all Bluey.

'But even the most crafty of us don't known everything. There is always something new to be learnt. Benson already knew favourites don't always win ... but he never quite realised the only two things certain in life are taxes and death!'

Source: Synopsis held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection (RMIT).


The script for this episode held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes:

'JOCK REYNOLDS: A uniformed Sergeant. He's about Bluey's age but in fact looks quite a bit older - and much more frail. He was shot several years ago, and never fully recovered his health - or his nerve. He's basically an honest man who has, almost accidentally, allowed himself to get involved in a corrupt situation. He has a strong, and genuine concern and liking for Bluey. He's telling the truth when he says he's "glad it's all over". Must be a sympathetic character.

'TONY BENSON: Mid-thirties, a sharp dresser, physically a match for Bluey. He's a lot smarter than the average thug, although he has a similar criminal background - assault, robbery, breaking - but mainly extortion. There's an infuriating smugness about him (Drives).

'ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: Mid-fifties, conservative - rather stern. He may have been a bit of a lad in his day, but now he lives up to the responsibility of his position.

'MIKE JENKINS: Size is the main restriction. We must be able to believe him as a jockey. He's under a lot of pressure, and should be a sympathetic character. (RIDES)

'DAVE BUTLER: About fifty; a racehorse trainer. Maybe even an ex-jockey.

'SQUIB: Should be a nice cameo. Has a whole string of convictions for non-violent crimes. Mostly he's a con-man. Wry sense of humour. Mid-fifties.

'BOMB DISPOSAL MAN: Late twenties, very clean-cut. Does a fair job of disguising his nervousness.'

Notes

  • This entry has been compiled from archival research in the Crawford Collection (AFI Research Collection), undertaken by Dr Catriona Mills under the auspices of the 2012 AFI Research Collection (AFIRC) Research Fellowship.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

      1975 .
      person or book cover
      Script cover page (Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)
      Extent: 58p.
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection is the original: typed on thin white paper and amended throughout with liquid paper. The amendments are infrequent and minor: they are corrections to typing mistakes rather than substantive alterations to dialogue or staging.
      • The script contains no indication as to whose copy of the script this was.
      • The script is labelled 'Code 11502' and 'Episode No. Three' on the cover page, but was produced and aired as episode two.
      • The archive also contains information on the breakdown of costs for this episode, access to which is highly restricted.
      • The script is accompanied by the following ancillary material, access to which is restricted:

        1. Cast list.

      Holdings

      Held at: AFI Research Collection
      Local Id: SC BLU : 2
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Crawford Productions , 1976 .
      Extent: 43min. 30secs. (according to the script)p.
      Series: form y separately published work icon Bluey Robert Caswell , Vince Moran , Everett de Roche , James Wulf Simmonds , Tom Hegarty , Gwenda Marsh , Colin Eggleston , David Stevens , Peter A. Kinloch , Keith Thompson , Gregory Scott , Peter Schreck , Denise Morgan , Monte Miller , Ian Jones , John Drew , David William Boutland , Jock Blair , Melbourne : Crawford Productions Seven Network , 1976 Z1815063 1976 series - publisher film/TV crime detective

      According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian Television Series, Bluey (and its Sydney-based rival, King's Men) 'constituted an attempt to revive the police genre after the cancellations of Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police'.

      Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television, summarises the program as follows:

      Bluey is a maverick cop who breaks every stereotype image. He drinks, smokes and eats to excess, and therefore is rather large, but it is his unusual investigative methods that set him apart. He has bent or broken every rule in the book at some stage, to the point where no-one else wants to work with him. But he gets results, and is therefore too valuable to lose, so the powers-that-be banish him to the basement of Russell Street Police Headquarters where he is set up in his own department, a strategem that keeps him out of the way of other cops.

      Moran adds that 'Grills, Diedrich and Nicholson turned in solid performances in the series and the different episodes were generally well paced, providing engaging and satisfying entertainment.'

      The program sold well overseas, especially in the United Kingdom. But though it rated well domestically, it was not the success that the Seven Network had hoped for, and was cancelled after 39 episodes.

      Bluey had an unexpected revival in the early 1990s when selections from the video footage (over-dubbed with a new vocal track) were presented during the second series of the ABC comedy The Late Show as the fictional police procedural Bargearse. (The Late Show had given ABC gold-rush drama Rush the same treatment in series one.)

      Number in series: 2
Last amended 29 May 2013 09:59:27
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